Arum Predicts Showtime Will Leave Boxing

After HBO announced the end of regular boxing broadcasting starting in 2019, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum sees a similar fate for HBO’s longtime rival, Showtime.

Arum spoke on the success both HBO and Showtime has had with their original programming, but with their premium cable model, competing for viewers, especially for boxing events, is especially tough.

“Both HBO and Showtime are competing for viewers with Netflix. So every dollar that they have has to go into what they’re really great at — providing entertainment. HBO certainly has done it. They have really, really good, good programming. And so does Showtime.”

HBO has had declining ratings for the past few years, while Showtime’s ratings have been steadily increasing for a bit.

But with Showtime’s reach being limited, Arum predicts that, within the next year, Showtime will also leave the sport in the same manner as boxing, leaving ESPN and FOX as the two main television networks doing regular boxing cards in the United States. Interestingly, Showtime signed a multi-year extension deal with PBC to have multiple big boxing cards broadcast on the network.

“So I’m predicting also that within the next year Showtime will be exiting from boxing because, as great as they’ve been for boxing, they don’t belong. Does FOX belong in boxing? Of course they do. They’re a regular network that has a lot of sports. ESPN is perfect for boxing. That’s where it’s going. The world never stays the same. It always changes. Their time has now passed.”